UNH 95, WHEELOCK 39: Armstrong's return bolsters 'Cats

Friday

Nov 10, 2017 at 6:21 PMNov 10, 2017 at 11:24 PM

Ryan O'Leary roleary@seacoastonline.com @RyanOLearySMG

DURHAM — Eighteen seconds into his first college basketball game in 20 months, Jacoby Armstrong scored his first bucket. A couple minutes later, he threw down the first of what would be a couple two-handed dunks.

“I think a lot of people outside have forgotten we even have him,” New Hampshire men’s basketball coach Bill Herrion said. “I’m not gonna lie to you.”

Armstrong showed on the court in Friday’s season opener what his coaches and teammates have been witnessing behind closed doors all along on the practice floor.

He’s back.

Debuting as a grad student after a lost senior year — one that started last November with a half-season suspension and ended in January with a mutual decision to redshirt — Armstrong flashed his usual power inside and some added quickness from the perimeter, right off the bat. He hit 8 of his 9 shot attempts and finished with 16 points in 13 minutes of New Hampshire’s 95-39 rout of Division 3 Wheelock College at Lundholm Gym.

“Playing was exciting,” Armstrong said, “but one word I can just say is that I’ve been ready. Ever since last year that I decided to redshirt, I’ve been practicing, last spring into the summer, from preseason up until now ... I’ve just been ready, staying disciplined, being obedient and just going hard.

“I’ve been playing with a chip on my shoulder. I’ve got a lot to prove to a lot of fans, to my teammates, to my coaches, to my family — I’ve just got a lot to prove.”

Tanner Leissner opened his senior year with 21 points and 14 rebounds. He had a double-double in the first half — outscoring Wheelock himself, 22-20, in 16 minutes — and shot 10 for 15 from the floor. Budding star Elijah Jordan, a freshman who started for UNH at the point, had five points, five assists, three rebounds and three steals in 27 minutes.

Off the bench, freshman guard Josh Hopkins scored 11 points and senior Iba Camara had 10 points and six boards. A year after the team struggled with bench depth at just about every position, Herrion got 10 guys a minimum of 13 minutes.

“I think we have more bodies than we had a year ago, more depth,” Herrion said. “And I think that’s a positive for us.”

The Wildcats will find out how deep they really are in the coming week. As part of the PK80-Phil Knight Invitational, they’ll play guaranteed-money games on Tuesday at Texas — which received 10 votes in the AP’s preseason top 25 poll — and on Sunday at No. 8 Florida.

“I’m excited to go down there and have all my family see me and have all the other Texas boys on the team have the opportunity to have their parents watch them,” said Leissner, a native of Converse, Texas, who played a high school championship game at the Erwin Center in Austin as a senior. “And to have the opportunity to play against a top team and see what happens.”

We know this much entering Week 2 of the season: the competition level is about to change — drastically.

Wheelock didn’t have the size or depth inside to contend with UNH, which outscored the visitors 64-12 in the paint and outrebounded them, 51-29.

A couple monster Wildcat runs turned this one into a laugher, the first a 21-0 jaunt that opened a 28-5 lead with 12:33 remaining in the half. UNH led 50-20 at halftime. The lead quickly ballooned to 50 after UNH scored 21 of the first 23 points of the second half.

“We know the strength of our team right now is inside,” Herrion said. “We had a size advantage, and we got the ball around the basket a lot and got high-percentage shots.”

Armstrong made an immediate impact, scoring on 6 of his 7 shots in the first half, all of them either dunks, layups or short jumpers in the paint. He started alongside Leissner at the forward position and was one of the reasons the team shot 52 percent from the floor.

“Jacoby and I have had many, many conversations the past five years,” Herrion said. “He’s been a wonderful kid in this program and he’s been wonderful to coach; he’s a great kid. And I think he wants to prove to people out there ‘You know what? I’m back. I can really play.’ And that’s how he’s been practicing — how he played today is how he’s been practicing every day.”

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